Lecture 39: OBESITY Flashcards

1
Q

How does the WHO classify obesity?

A

By BMI

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2
Q

What is the formula for BMI?

A

weight(kg)/height(m) ^2

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3
Q

What is a BMI >30?

A

Obese

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4
Q

What is a BMI 25 to 30?

A

Overweight

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5
Q

What is a BMI 20 to 25?

A

healthy weight

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6
Q

What is a BMI <20?

A

Underweight

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7
Q

What increases with increasing BMI?

A

Risk of type 2 diabetes and CHD

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8
Q

What may abnormal TAG storage in muscle and liver contribute to?

A

Insulin resistance

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9
Q

How do 90% of people return to original weight?

A

By diet and exercise meaning that they lose fat

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10
Q

What is metabolic rate made up of?

A

Adaptive thermogenesis (smallest component), physical activity and obligatory energy expenditure (largest component)

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11
Q

What is adaptive thermogenesis?

A

Variable, regulated by the brain

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12
Q

What does adaptive thermogenesis respond to?

A

Temperature and diet

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13
Q

Where does adaptive thermogenesis occur?

A

In brown adipocyte mitochondria, skeletal muscle and other sites

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14
Q

What is physical activity?

A

Variable

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15
Q

What is obligatory energy expenditure required for?

A

Performance of cellular and organ function

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16
Q

What happens when respiration is uncoupled to oxidative phosphorylation?

A

Heat is produced rather than ATP as the ETC goes faster to try and re-establish the gradient

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17
Q

Where were uncoupling proteins originally found?

A

In brown fat

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18
Q

Where are uncoupling proteins present?

A

In the inner mitochondrial membrane

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19
Q

What are uncoupling proteins?

A

Regulated proton channels in the membrane (“holes”) which remove the proton gradient

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20
Q

What is an example of an uncoupling protein?

A

2,4 - dinitrophenol

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21
Q

What do uncoupling proteins do?

A

Uncouple ATP synthesis from fatty acid oxidation which causes the electrochemical potential gradient to dissipate releasing heat which therefore increases metabolic rate and burns excess fuels

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22
Q

When are proton channels open and closed?

A

Open in cold and closed in warm

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23
Q

How are UCP’s regulated?

A

By the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)/noradrenaline

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24
Q

What is the main neurotransmitter of the SNS?

A

noradrenaline

25
Q

What is brown fat?

A

Special thermogenic tissue

26
Q

Where is brown fat found?

A

In hibernating animals, babies and less in adults

27
Q

What does brown fat do?

A

Keeps hibernating animals and babies warm

28
Q

What does brown fat have?

A

Many mitochondria and fat droplets

29
Q

What is the metabolic adaptation to cold in penguins?

A

avian uncoupling protein (avUCP)

30
Q

Where is avUCP highly expressed?

A

In the mitochondria of pectoral muscles

31
Q

What does avUCP do?

A

Oxidises fatty acids to generate heat

32
Q

What has recently been discovered?

A

Uncoupling proteins (UCP2, UCP3) in white adipose tissue and in muscle of humans as well as other animals

33
Q

What may UCP2 and UCP3 do?

A

Act to raise the metabolic rate and release heat to burn off some excess energy and prevent obesity

34
Q

What are some strategies to combat obesity (involving BAT)?

A

stimulate existing BAT, switch on brown fat differentiation and growth, transplantation of engineered BAT

35
Q

What may be involved in switching on brown fat differentiation and growth?

A

PRDM16 promoter inserted into developing white adipose tissue to promote brown adipose tissue growth

36
Q

What does the in vivo approach: pharmaceuticals, biologics and natural components to BAT involve?

A

increase BAT differentiation from progenitor cells, activated BAT - mediated thermogenesis, promote muscle thermogenic function and increase general mitochondrial uncoupling

37
Q

What is involved in the ex vivo: cell based therapy approach?

A

1: isolate progenitor
2: induce in vitro with agents promoting BAT differentiation or genes specifying BAT differentiation
3: transplant back to donor to generate functional BAT

38
Q

What is the component of obesity from genes?

A

30-80%

39
Q

What is also involved in obesity other than genetics?

A

Environmental and lifestyle factors

40
Q

What are the genetic defects in rodents?

A

Obese mouse ob/ob
diabetic obese mouse db/db
fatty rat fa/fa

41
Q

What does the obese gene code for?

A

leptin - a 16kDa protein

42
Q

What does the mutant obese mouse (ob/ob) do?

A

Not produce leptin

43
Q

What is leptin?

A

A peptide hormone secreted from fat cells

44
Q

What does leptin do?

A

Signals the brain to decrease food intake, increase energy expenditure and therefore maintains normal animal in energy balance

45
Q

Where is the leptin receptor found?

A

In the hypothalamus of the brain and several other tissues

46
Q

Where is the leptin receptor absent?

A

In the obese diabetic (db/db) and the fatty rat (fa/fa)

47
Q

What are some obese humans found to have?

A

mutant leptin or leptin receptor

48
Q

What do most obese humans appear to be?

A

Resistant to the leptin signal

49
Q

What did the severely obese child have?

A

No serum leptin, homozygous for frameshift mutation in the leptin gene

50
Q

What treatment was the severely obese child given?

A

Recombinant leptin therapy for a year

51
Q

What did the treatment do for the severely obese child?

A

Decreased food intake and 16kg weight loss in 1 year due to fat oss

52
Q

What are some other defects in the cell signalling pathway of leptin which cause obesity?

A
MC4R = 4-6% of severe human obesity
POMC= bariatric surgery may be required
53
Q

What are factors influencing the development of obesity?

A

genes, monogenic syndromes, susceptibility genes, exercise, food intake, culture and environmental factors

54
Q

What are potential molecular targets for anti-obesity drugs?

A

Food breakdown, satiety signals, mitochondria and brown fat as well as microbiome

55
Q

What can be targeted for food breakdown?

A

Pancreatic lipase may be blocked so less fat is absorbed (xenical)

56
Q

What can be adjusted in satiety signals?

A

Increase leptin levels (leptin receptor), gut satiety factors -clinical trials underwya

57
Q

What can be targeted in mitochondria and brown fat?

A

Uncouple oxidative phosphorylation from electron transport and up regulate uncoupling proteins with drugs increasing functional BAT (future?)

58
Q

what does leptin stimulate?

A

Sympathetic neurone activation > lipolysis

59
Q

What is adipose tissue?

A

An endocrine organ which secretes regulatory molecules which is why having too much can disrupt the pathway